Morning Open Thread
Good morning,
Photo by Pete Souza
Comments (72) «
Good morning, all.
As I look a this photo, I can help but be moved.
Don't be afraid of success, Mr. President. John Adams kept on telling the rest of the Founders that the nation was meant to take bold action that would result in many significant things for the dignity of Mankind.
He may have been arrogant and nobody really liked him, but he saw the future clearly...and encouraged them.
The future is now. I encourage you, Mr. President, to continue the work that was started and not worry about how you may be perceived by others with less vision and compassion. Seize the moment. Make the most of the opportunity that you have been given.
bbl.
Good afternoon fellow Americans. Good morning to the other time zones.
It is not the first lie I am worried about, it is the ones that quickly follow.
Panetta Tells Lawmakers CIA Misled Congress Post-2001
CIA’S Paramount Truth
Our nations Declaration of Independence foundation
Did stand upon the mountain of Concrete Accountability,
Where the people ran our government with oversight,
Questioning every fact given - for the Paramount Truth.
Prefabricated Intelligence of Think Tank conception,
With organizations, other people that dealt in deception,
Undermine the very core of Constitutional Democracy,
Where our Freedom is taken, along with Free Speech rights.
Congress committed the greatest travesty of responsibility,
Negating its Homework Duty, Honor of Checks and Balances.
Letting deception run amuck in the Blackwater Rush to war,
Their WMD strained the Constitution with Bush redefinitions.
Republican Leader John Boehner, you said the CIA never lied,
That is saying that the Bush White House told the Katrina truth.
But what “Lies” in Washington is a legacy of CIA misdirection,
When Congress “Was Used” by a Patriot Act intimidating administration.
Oh Congress, the White House Bully, has made you a puppet clone.
Where like the Supreme Court power, it has merged into the President,
Who “At Will” run their Enron empire, without any supervision.
The end result, we will share the same ending of Creative Accounting.
Congress must mandate a mandatory Constitution lie detector test
That the whole intelligence community must be asked these questions.
Do you believe in the Constitution as it was designed?
Do you believe in Checked and Balanced oversight?
Have you ever deceived Congress, or the Judicial Branch?
Have you ever lied to Congress, or the Judicial Branch?
Have you lied to another official, or your supervisor about facts?
Then Congress take depositions from those in Congress,
Who were in the loop, and see if they were misled.
For I fear that Congress, was Amputated from the White House.
Cheney said that the CIA is above reproach in truth of trust.
I say that Madoff, was even above that standard of confidence.
Yet, where was Washington’s Homework on Madoff or Lay?
Absolute power corrupts, if it has no Congressional accountability.
The Cheney Virus has impregnated the very core fibers of America,
Where much like a Russian Putin, there is this underground power.
That demands Abu Ghraib Holocaust images secrecy of covert actions.
That the United States needed the Inquisition of Scales of In-Justice.
What “Lies” in Washington, is the CIA “Truth” of WMD facts.
What “Lies” in Washington, is National Security waterboard interrogation.
What “Lies” in Washington, is a Tory Country Club that failed America.
What “Lies” in Washington’s HooverNomics, is Middle Class bankruptcy,
While Congress has their own private plush retirement secured accounts.
If they had Social Security, they would have secured America.
What “Lies” in Washington, is the “Shame Of The Same Ole Thing,”
So repugnant that no Fashion Model Wardrobe will protect those Tories.
God Bless Made In America Birthrights deed of children futures.
But Congress has outsourced their Soul - to the highest bidder.
What “Lies” in Washington is a backwater Blackwater reflective image.
How many would, “In God We Trust,” CorPoliticians today.
I think they need to be recycled into toilet paper.
CIA’S Paramount Truth has to be the “We the people” Lie Detector.
The cost of Free Speech today, is the Freedom and Democracy
Of your home Corporate Eminent Domain censorship edicts
That ban the Poetry of questioning mind of CIA WMD facts,
Where the Patriot Act must be a Congress and homes in recess.
Where those that still speak out are Terminated – Terminated for Poetry.
Can you imagine if America’s Declaration of Independence
Demanded The Concrete Truth?
Note: It is not the first lie I am worried about, it is the ones that quickly follow.
David Lester Young 07/09/09 © all rights owned by author
De-Terminated poet, somewhere in America not on company time
Harpo_TheWatchman on July 9, 2009 at 12:06 PM
And the trillion dollars, or so, wasted on Iraq would feed the entire nation for a year or would've paid for the stimulus bill and the first couple of years of single-payer national health insurance. So is the FLOTUS being pompous, as you out it, by carrying an allegedly $6K handbag? Perhaps; but what does that make President Bush 43 and VP Cheney, et al, for spending $1T on Iraq?
Bob: How many 'contributed' dollars was it that the RNC spent on fallin' Palin's clothes again? Wasn't it upwards of $200,000? Further, I think that the First Lady's wardrobe is actually paid for by the private funds of her and her husband and not from tax payer or contributor dollars. Lastly, I can assure you, whatever Michelle Obama spent on clothing and accessories pales when you compare it to what Cindy McCain spends everyday on her appearance, not to mention Laura and Barbara Bush and don't get me started on Nancy Reagan!
marymac_memphis on July 9, 2009 at 12:59 PM
You tell 'em sister!
Good afternoon Bob,marymac and fellow Democrats.Don't let that old fool harpo bother you,he is just a lonly old man with looking for anything he can to try to stir thiungs up,it must really bother him that our great president has had so much success.
Hi Peaceman: You are absolutely correct! I am; however, entertained that this is what the stupid trolls - not to mention the RNC - are down to when it comes to critizing the Obama Administration. Just to have something to bytch about, they have to bring up the cost of the First Lady's wardrobe? How low and stupid is that? I really believe that it's actually a new low for the pond scum that comes here!
Just one more disturbing aspect of the Bush Administration:
Torture By Mexican Government In Drug War Highlights U.S. Loss of Credibility On Human Rights
The Washington Post reports today that the Mexican government has employed numerous torture techniques to extract confessions from suspected drug traffickers. The techniques included beatings, suffocation with plastic bags, electric shocks, the insertion of needles under suspects’ finger nails, water torture, and other abuses.
Under what’s known as the Mérida Initiative, the U.S. government agreed in 2007 to provide Mexico with $1.4 billion in funding to fight the war on drugs, but 15 percent (or $90.7 million) of the original funding and $24 million authorized under the Obama administration will be released only after the “secretary of state reports that Mexico has made progress on human rights.”
The reports of torture put that money’s release in jeopardy. As a result, Mexican human rights workers are accusing the U.S. of hypocrisy when it comes to human rights abuses, citing the mistreatment of suspected terrorists under President Bush. The Post explains:
Many Mexican human rights activists do not support the [human rights] conditions, noting that they were imposed by a U.S government widely accused of torturing prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“It really takes a lot of cynicism, a lot of hypocrisy, for the United States to say, ‘We will give you money to fight drug trafficking as long as you respect human rights,’” said José Raymundo Díaz Taboada, director of the Acapulco office of the Collective Against Torture and Impunity, which documents abuses in Guerrero.
The accusations of hypocrisy highlight one of the hard-to-quantify costs of the Bush administration’s use of torture against suspected terrorists to extract unreliable intelligence: the loss of credibility as a champion of human rights. In recent months and years, in fact, a growing number of nations have rejected calls from the U.S. to end human rights abuses, citing the Bush administration’s actions:
China: In response to the State Department’s annual human rights report critical of the Chinese government, a government spokesman said the report “exposed the double standards and downright hypocrisy of the United States on the human rights issue, and inevitably impaired its international image.” [3/12/2008]
Iran: The L.A. Times reported on Iran’s latest response to the State Department’s latest human rights report, writing, “Iranian officials regularly accuse the West of hypocrisy in zeroing in on Iran’s human rights record, citing prisoner abuse allegations in the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay. [3/11/09]
Russia: In response to criticism from former Vice President Dick Cheney regarding Russia’s human rights abuses, then-Russian President Vladimir Putin asked, “Where is all this pathos about protecting human rights and democracy when it comes to the need to pursue their own interests?” [5/11/06. Similar remarks: 3/27/08]
Venezuela: The Venezuelan government responded to a recent State Department report on Human Trafficking, saying, “It is scandalous that a country…where torture has been practiced and terrorists are protected, pretends to prop itself up as a judge of human rights in the world.” [6/19/09]
As Matt Yglesias recently explained, the abuses that go on in Iran, China, North Korea, and other nations are perpetrated on a much wider scale and have gone on far longer than those that occurred in U.S. detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Cuba. But the fact remains that “whenever you read about these kind of techniques being applied in Iran or North Korea, it’s immediately apparent to everyone that it’s torture, it’s cruel, it’s inhumane, and it’s wrong.” Indeed, it was immediately apparent to the world that the U.S. abuses were torture as well. Now, Obama must work to rebuild the credibility that his predecessor squandered.
Conservatives have chosen a strange leader to spearhead their charge against Judge Sotomayor — Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). With only days remaining until Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings begin, Sessions has focused his attacks on Sotomayor’s past service on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), a leading civil rights organization that Sessions calls “extreme” because it “brought several race discrimination lawsuits for minorities” while Sotomayor sat on its board.
Setting aside the facial absurdity of this attack — race discrimination is illegal, a fact which apparently also bothers Sessions — it’s puzzling that conservatives would let Sessions be their public face of opposition against the first Latina nominated to the Supreme Court, especially in light of his own checkered history with race.
Sarah Palin's decision to step down as governor was driven in part by her wish to help Republican candidates across the country, associates say.
Oh, and to step away from the limelight and notoriety. And to spend more time with her family. And because God told her to. And because all the ethics investigations were costing an arm and a leg. And because the people of Alaska blah blah blah. And because the evil, Godless liberals were attacking her children everytime she dragged them onstage as props.
But in New Jersey and Virginia, both of which have competitive governors' races this year, the prospect of a visit from the imbecilic bumpkin has so far drawn a muted response from the GOP contenders in both states.
And by 'muted' they mean 'oh hell NO!!!'
Camp: Minority children turned away from Pa. pool
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090709/ap_on_re_us/us_swim_club_blacks
If President Obama wants racial unity, he needs to go swimming in this pool.
But like some Blacks they will look away and not comment on it.
The least he could do or Congress is ask the club to explain itself. I doubt that he would act like MLK, or a Civil Rights Liberal, saying this is not acceptable in an Obama Presidency.
I think President Obana is more like a Tiger Woods conformist, than a Kennedy tackling race issues. They are stars that wish not to tarnish their conservative images. The funny thing is that Bill Clinton would react quicker.
Do not be mad for me being a Devils advocate for Obama has only one sided star support, he lacks people who give him objectivity.
I am working on this poem, it is directed to Tory Presidents, not Whig ones.
Twinkle, Twinkle Presidential Star
American Models of Washington’s Hollywood looks,
Tory Country Club high fashion political wardrobes
Insulated from mainstream HooverNomic survival
They have their own membership retirement benefits.
Twinkle, twinkle Presidential Star fraternity members
Working for Bridges to Nowhere, pick pocket accounts.
Earmarks that bulge the deficit, while padding coffers,
Stellar elite of Viagra inflated imbecile erect dysfunction.
Fortress of Washington’s Tory political union frat family,
Whose compensation needs busted up like GM, and Chrysler.
That “We the people” have been bankrupt by their policies,
And we must file eviction notices, to vacate their benefits.
----------------------
Today there was a story about an Iraq War Vet Walking Wounded living in a campground with his wife and two kids. He accidentally drove over his boy and wife, when trying to get warm in a car and falling asleep. This is so much like Vietnam treatment from Washington CorPolitical Fashion models. Another generation of redefined Veterans feeling the Patriot Act silence of the media.
17
CD on July 9, 2009 at 03:24 PM
Half or more of that is Republican. After all how much did the Bush Iraq War cost us.
London Tabloid Shocker: Celeb Phones Hacked!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090709/wl_time/08599190963700
following claims that News of the World's publisher News International, Rupert Murdoch's British subsidiary, paid $1.6 million to settle court cases that exposed its journalists using criminal methods to secure stories.
London Tabloid Shocker: Celeb Phones Hacked!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090709/wl_time/08599190963700
following claims that News of the World's publisher News International, Rupert Murdoch's British subsidiary, paid $1.6 million to settle court cases that exposed its journalists using criminal methods to secure stories.
18
YoungPoet on July 9, 2009 at 03:29 PM
Veterans do get silence from the media. There is no follow up nor concern about stories that have broken about the abuse of veterans and, for that matter, the active military as well. But you also find a lack of concern from the general public.
I do give Obama a lot of credit for increasing the Veterans' Administration's Budget, and appointing someone to head it who cares about veterans, and understands, it has been a big help in turning Veterans' services around. But while there have been several constructive advances, there is much to be done. Some of it can be done at home.
One of my concerns is the left-out vets. The PTSD/brain trauma sufferers who have been given Less Than Honorable Discharges during the Bushiato, in a very Republican attempt to deny them their VA benefits.
These guys are getting crapped on. The media did no follow up after the story broke about Fort Carson railroading PTSD/brain trauma soldiers into Less Than Honorable discharges. They didn't even bother to investigate the fact that it was a systemic attempt to rob these guys, and was occurring at other installations as well.
There definitely needs to be a Board of Appeals set up to get justice for these veterans. There needs to be a change in the command climate to enable these veterans to get their discharge and medical records so they and appeal with out going through a lot of crap.
Far too many commands seem to feel that these guys didn't give enough. Like Christ said about the Widow's Mite, they gave all they had. Now they need justice.
$540 would feed a family of 6 or more nicely for a week or 2.
4Harpo_TheWatchman on July 9, 2009 at 12:06 PM
and this is why MN Thomass takes his family to WalMart for their clothes, and sends the rest of the clothing allowance to charities! \
Pompous is right, you old Pompous ass !
How's that job at Toro going, anyways? They fire your ass yet?
Afternoon all good Dems,
There was a big demonstration in Iran today in which the "illegal government" used tear gas against 3,000 young people.
The young people no longer chant death to Israel and America or Allah is good.
Now they are chanting down with the illegal government and get the hell out and give us our government back.
They are sounding more like Americans every day. This is what we should have done when that asshole scabia put chimp in power. scabia should have been removed from office.
Good afternoon, all.
The parting gifts just keep on coming.....
Ensign's parents gave mistress's family $96k
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press Writer
LAS VEGAS – U.S. Sen. John Ensign's parents gave the Nevada Republican's mistress and her family nearly $100,000 "out of concern for the well being of longtime family friends during a difficult time," an attorney for the senator said Thursday.
In a statement sent to reporters, Paul Coggins described the payment as a single check for $96,000 given to Cindy and Doug Hampton and two of their children. It was given in April 2008, Coggins said, after the senator told his parents of his affair with Cindy Hampton, a campaign aide and longtime friend.
"None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds, nor were they related to any campaign or official duties," the statement said. "Sen. Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules."...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_ensign_affair
I never understand these odd numbers. Like why not $100,000?
Is this some kind of Republican numeric code practice like the fundies use code words? You know the ones that the evangelicals use to slur other Christians and bear false witness....so as to not throw up red flags for St. Peter on Judgment Day?
Do IRS computers not easily compute bribery checks that aren't rounded up? So this is the way conservatives make the graft look like regular business expenses?
President Obama indicated while he was in Russia that America will no longer be the worlds policeman. He put it more eloquently than I ever could.
Thom Hartman followed that up with a guy who is saying that we need to reduce our miltary spending to about half or less than it is now or we will face complete collapse as a nation like Argentina and some other South American nations did a few years back. This would free up money for domestic programs and help pay back our huge Repbulican Debt starting with raygun the asshole.
I can just hear the asshole right wing extremists screeching. I hope they blow a blood vessel and take a dirt nap.
It is either us or them at this point. We must eliminate the Military/Industrial Complex or we are doomed.
While we are at it, quit spending billions on the CIA. Wasn't it the CIA who killed John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy? Wasn't it the CIA who blew up the Twin Towers with Thermite which left an obvious residue on the collapse debris and which left many of our brave rescue workers with complete respiratory collapse.
When is someone we elect going to have balls enough to cut the military and the CIA?
peaceman on July 9, 2009 at 02:12 PM
peaceman,
I hear she's a Red Hat lady, too. Those women are as discriminatory as they come. No men, no women under 50 are allowed, and they meet right out in the open monopolizing restaurant space better used for businessmen lunches.
Lord help the country, if she's a Shriner. Have you seen the red hats they wear? She has to be a terrorist sympathizer.
Health care for congress family $357.00 per month Healthcare for senior $478.00 for two want to trade.
You give clothes from Wal-Mart as wedding gifts? You could at least give them electronics. I'd love to see the face of those young people when they open your gifts.
26
SandyH on July 9, 2009 at 05:18 PM
They new that more money would trigger the IRS to investigate. Also by his parents paying it would seem to stop the IRS, but maybe the money was funneled to his parents before and after the check. The IRS needs to see where their money was coming from, they might be on the Senator's payroll.
I am sure that the Senator's inner circle dealings would make for great press.
I think there are a lot of Senators that need expunged from Congress, both Democrat and Republican.
Ensign paid $96,000 "gift" to Hamptons
Sen. John Ensign paid out nearly $100,000 to the family of his mistress out of his private funds, his lawyer says in an e-mail.The gifts, the statement says, are part of a pattern of "generosity" on the part of the senator to the family he nearly destroyed.
Statement on behalf of Senator John Ensign:
In April 2008, Senator John Ensign’s parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. Each gift was limited to $12,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts.
After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time. The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others.
None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds nor were they related to any campaign or official duties. Senator Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules.
Paul Coggins
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Counsel for Senator John Ensign
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0709/Ensign_paid_96000_gift_to_Hamptons.html
Forgive me ladies for I know what I'm going to say next is awfully sexist but, I ain't never seen one worth $96K even on the Ensign Payment Plan. The drip, drip, drip of this saga continues.
30
Guion on July 9, 2009 at 05:28 PM
Active federal employees are paying $550 a month for full family coverage in an HMO.
It is an utter outrage that congress gets it so cheaply. The amount paid should be based on percentage of income. The same should apply to all citizens including seniors.
Does congress pay any co-pays for medical treatment or prescriptions like federal employees do? I'll bet not.
Yeah - right!
Ensign's parents gave mistress's family $96k
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 14 mins ago
LAS VEGAS – U.S. Sen. John Ensign's parents gave the Nevada Republican's mistress and her family nearly $100,000 "out of concern for the well being of longtime family friends during a difficult time," an attorney for the senator said Thursday.
In a statement sent to reporters, Paul Coggins described the payment as a single check for $96,000 given to Cindy and Doug Hampton and two of their children. It was given in April 2008, Coggins said, after the senator told his parents of his affair with Cindy Hampton, a campaign aide and longtime friend.
"None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds, nor were they related to any campaign or official duties," the statement said. "Sen. Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules."
The statement comes a day after Doug Hampton told a Las Vegas television show that Ensign paid Cindy Hampton more than $25,000 in severance when she left her job as treasurer for two Ensign-controlled campaign committees.
Ensign had not commented directly on allegations of a payments to the Hamptons, but through a spokesman called Doug Hampton's statements "consistently inaccurate."
A Washington watchdog group has said such a payment could have violated campaign finance laws because it was not reported by the committees.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has sought a Senate ethics investigation and on Thursday sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for a criminal probe of the matter.
Coggins, a Dallas-based attorney with the firm Fish and Richardson PC, said no laws were violated with the $96,000 check.
"The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others," he said. "The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts."
Ensign, a 51-year-old conservative Christian lawmaker, confessed to the affair last month, after Doug Hampton approached the media and sought money from the senator through an attorney.
Until May 2008, Doug Hampton also worked for Ensign, as a Senate aide. He said Wednesday that his livelihood had been ruined by his wife's affair.
The Hamptons and Ensigns have been friends for decades. Cindy Hampton and Ensign's wife, Darlene, went to high school together. The families live in adjacent gated communities in the Las Vegas suburbs and their children attend the same school.
Ensign is the son of wealthy casino mogul and Las Vegas businessman Mike Ensign.
marymac_memphis on July 9, 2009 at 01:30 PM
Hi, mary.
The conservatives are experts when it comes to clothing. Between Nancy Reagan, Cindy McCain, and Sarah Palin they have had literally generations of experience in clothes shopping.
I personally think it's silly that so much attention is paid to what the wives of public officials wear. So many of them spearhead lots of wonderful programs to help people which get little press.
The federal government used to pay 70% of the health care bill each month for an employee. In recent years they have cut that down to something a lot less, forcing government employees to now pay $550 a month. If the government still paid their 70% as promised, the monthly bill would be about $358 very comparable to congress.
I see this as a direct assault on gorernment employees by the neocons who have f**ked government employees every year since 1981. Congress has never had the balls or the courage to step in and fight for government employees because they don't believe in government of any kind.
Afternoon Sandy! Sorry for posting the same thing that you did! (What is it they say about 'great minds'? LOL)
As to the amount that FLOTUS spends on her clothing is really none of anyone's business providing that she is spending her own personal funds as opposed to tax payer dollars. She's worked hard her whole life and if she wants to spend a few of her hard earned dollars - then that's exactly what she should do! And, if she is representing the United States at official functions, I don't mind if she spends a few tax payer dollars as well as her own personal funds. IMHO
mary,
I find it strange that these rich conservative swingers trade off with spouses in such a routine manner and then when the world finds, tries to act like it's normal.
I find the explanation condoning this practice worse than what they actually did. I don't care who what they do for recreational sex among married couples in the Far Right. But is it normal for the extended family to get involved, too?
I guess I'm too poor to understand the "family values" and morals of my betters.
Over there they would have smashed your head in with a shovel and buried your lame ass already....
But you wouldn't get a bill when you went to the hospital.
Sandy: I long for the days when people had enough sense not to run for office on one of those holier-than-thou campaign platforms and enough class to allow private lives of others to remain just than, Private! The Grinch changed all that when he, while having one of his many extra-marital affairs, decided to crucify President Clinton for doing the exact same thing - your basic Republican hyprocrisy!
Cheney would have just told Linda Wertheimer to go *uck herself. I find Pelosi's treatment much more diplomatic and civil.
Wal-Mart does sooo much for the American people!
Yeah, right!
Like buy cheap drugs from an Indian company that has been investigated for "inadequate safeguards" against contamination among other things.
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/ranbaxy/
Wal-Mart, it's a company to die for?
Hey! How come Mal-Wart's so wonderful for importing these drugs from India, when Big Pharma was screaming about US made drugs being brought back from Canada weren't safe?
Does one get a whiff of a skunk in the woodpile here?
It looks like Cheney may get more than he wished for regarding torture documents. It now looks like the House is going to dump all the evidence in public hearings...and he isn't invited to the party.
Gee, if he had only kept his mouth shut and not sent out his daughter to raise everybody's suspicions higher than they were already. If only the RNC had sent out their attack dogs questioning the honesty of the Speaker.
It's too late now.
This article is the archived version of a report that appeared in the May 2009 Consumer Reports Magazine.
President Barack Obama says Americans should have access to the kind of health benefits Congress gets. We detail them below. Members of Congress and other U.S. government employees can receive care through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Employees choose from hundreds of plans, but the most popular is a national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Preferred Provider Organization plan. Employee contributions for that plan are $152 per person, or $357 per family, per month.
Plan features Covered services
No annual or lifetime limits for major services
Deductible of $300 per person and $600 per family
Out-of-pocket limit of $5,000 per year with preferred providers, which includes most deductibles, co-insurance, and co-payments
Inpatient and outpatient hospital care
Inpatient and outpatient doctor visits
Prescription drugs
Diagnostic tests
Preventive care, including routine immunizations
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy
Maternity care
Family planning
Durable medical equipment, orthopedic devices, and artificial limbs
Organ and tissue transplants
Inpatient and outpatient surgery
Physical, occupational, and speech therapy
Outpatient and inpatient mental-health care
Hey! How come Mal-Wart's so wonderful for importing these drugs from India, when Big Pharma was screaming about US made drugs being brought back from Canada weren't safe?
Butte on July 9, 2009 at 06:15 PM
Butte,
It's one of those great mysteries of the conservative thought process...and graft. To them, American consumers should only be allowed to get their unsafe foreign drugs through a middle man.
What I find interesting is that Wal-Mart is able to make a profit from each of those $4 prescriptions. What were they making before when these were all $200 drugs?
The Republicans are completely owned and operated by the lobbyists that fund their campaigns. You betcha.
Now would it be nice if you only had to pay .o41% of your pay for health care. base salary senator $174,000.
49
Guion on July 9, 2009 at 06:24 PM
Outpatient and inpatient mental-health care; try to get that from most insurance providers. That includes care for children in the autistic spectrum, which includes high functioning autism and Asperger's syndrome among other common mental problems. Something that's hard to come by in real world insurance plans.
Medical insurance plans also exclude rampant right-wing nuthood, but judging from some posters on this blog, that's not curable anyway.
Also I don't see anything that excludes the infamous "pre-existing conditions".
If everyone could get a deal like that there would be a lot more families with medical insurance and fewer medical bankruptcies.
Things that make you say, "Our legislators are out of touch with the real world."
Maybe we ought to push to make them get their own medical insurance out of their own pockets, and see how fast the medical care system gets cleaned up.
Maybe we ought to push to make them get their own medical insurance out of their own pockets, and see how fast the medical care system gets cleaned up.
Butte on July 9, 2009 at 06:41 PM
I doubt that would even work. Either these conservatives are filthy rich to begin and don't need insurance or they are getting rich fast by taking bribes and promises of riches when they become lobbyists when they retire from office.
Our Dems have to bite the bullet and do the right thing. We shouldn't care if the conservatives squeal like the fat, selfish pigs that they are. The country has become more progressive than ever and even moderate Independents want real change.
We need to advance our Jeffersonian/FDR ideology like never before. Every time we have done this in our history, great advances are made. We once again become that beacon of light on the hill that the world admires and want to emulate.
Let's just leave our doubts and reservations behind and do what we know will work.
I can't figure it out - does she lie or is she just incapable of getting anything right?
From Think Progress:
Palin’s key reason for resigning was inflated.
One of the main reasons Sarah Palin cited for her resignation as Alaska’s governor was frustration with “frivolous ethics violations.” She said that she didn’t want to waste “valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars” go toward responding to the charges. Palin’s office provided the Anchorage Daily News “with a breakdown of what it says are $1.9 million in costs.” However, it appears that these costs may be inflated. Most of the $1.9 million is a “per-hour accounting” of the time that state employees have spent working on the charges, even though those “state employees would have been paid regardless.” Greg Sargent notes:
But [David] Murrow, the [governor's] spokesperson, acknowledged to our reporter, Amanda Erickson, that this total was arrived at by adding up attorney hours spent on fending off complaints — based on the fixed salaries of lawyers in the governor’s office and the Department of Law. The money would have gone to the lawyers no matter what they were doing. The complaints are “just distracting them from other duties,” Murrow said.
In other words, while these lawyers might have been free to do other legal work for the state, the ethics complaints have apparently not had the real world impact Palin has claimed, and didn’t drain money away from cops, teachers, roads and other things.
If you have insurance, all you need to do is make a co-pay when you are served. You pay up front and you know what the charge will be.
Isn't that how we buy every other product or service in in this country?
Why are we having to wait for a bill that is determined by the insurance company to be what they think the service is worth after the fact...and after they get their cut above and beyond what the supplier/provider charges?
The current system is just plain stupid. It makes people pay twice. Conservatives are a bunch of frauds and swindlers.
The owners of that black cemetery were no doubt a bunch of whit,e asshole, cheap bastard republicans.
marymac_memphis on July 9, 2009 at 07:03 PM
mary,
Why couldn't she just live in the Governor's Mansion that the people of Alaska built for that purpose? Why couldn't she just do the work of the state instead of use her public time conducting personal business on the job?
Palin sees herself as too good to live and work like any other public official. The Maverick had to resign because she didn't really didn't want the job just the power.
Typical Republican.
The owners of that black cemetery were no doubt a bunch of black asshole, cheap bastard republicans. There seem to be a lot of them like steele, et al.
The 4 people arrested in the scheme were all Black, the owners of the cemetery are from Texas and the company HQ is located in Tucson AZ.
Hmmmm, I see Danny must have finally got extracted from that lawn chair and is alive after all! things like this give you an idea of exactly how dim witted this man really is!
The "One' is not a poor man. George Bush was a very wealthy man, and ended up even wealthier after President. Funny you never gave a shit about that.
2) We are still in Iraq. WHO lied and invaded Iraq, while jerks like you sat with your finger up your ass and watched 4300 US boys get killed for that lie?
3) The "Ones" budget ideas will put us 3 trillion in the hole.
Take a gander at what Bush's Illegal invasion into Iraq cost us!
http://www.costofwar.com/
And you again sat there and voted for him twice, and never said a word about the hole in China this one put us into!!!
WHY IS THAT YOU HYPOCRITCAL OLD FOOL??????
Are you really that stupid?
17CD on July 9, 2009 at 03:24 PM
Evening DPD,
The cemetery owners are probably paying these black workers below minimum wage and telling them that they have approval to dig up the bones.
Why shouldn't you get a bill? You think everything should be free?
53Harpo_TheWatchman on July 9, 2009 at 06:55 PM
ask your little deadbeat German friend, if he says NO Thanks to the Free German Socialized Health care!!!
Everything you got, Thomassss, is given to you by Democrats! Everything. That is why people from other countries want to come here, not for some greedy little pricks like the Republicans here. NO one would come here if they were in control.
Here's a few more things you enjoy:
Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican
by John Gray
Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.
Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.
You and Stevie boy and Dufus Dan are welcome!! And when you get the free health care, you will love it too!!!
Boy, Thomass gets shriller and shriller. If I did not know better, I would think that was a little girl, stomping her foot .
Hey Thomassss, in case you forgot:
YOU LOST
WE WON,
SUCK IT THE F***K UP!!!
It feels so good to know it gets under your skin, that WE are in the majority, and you and a few dozen others like your peers on here (scary isn't it), are sadly wrong !!!
hahahahahahahahahahahahaahhahahahahahahahaha
Have a great evening Dems.
Know that the trolls will be nothing but a empty space here in the morning, like they never existed. that pisses them off too, despite their pretending it doesn't!
Blog ya tomorrow,
I see that harponeverything is still slacking around. go find some work to do, ya lazy bum. man, all you do is bitch and complain!
hey johne. how's the man made climate change? (we might as well set the numbskull trool off completely.) and soon...I'll post a verse or two. snicker
johne, I need your help. the carpenter & I are planning to build a 24 x 24 garage. do you have a reliable source that would help me know how many yards of concrete is needed for a footer? I'm researching and want to bedazzle the carpenter of my "knowledge" when he returns from his fishing trip. Is it necessary to have a footer 18" deep and 24" wide?
also, is it necessary to have the driveway and inside the garage concrete 4" thick? are there different standards from state to state because of freeze?
thanks, johne...and anybody else who is helpful and SINCERE!
well, harpo..please share with me how a fine upstanding American citizen such as yourself should behave on a blog instead of trying to fit in.
I rarely bitch and/or complain, here or in my 3-D life.
#7 choose to be happy.
harpo, I have a hand made witchy poo broom that gets lots and lots of use. we have decks on the front and back of the house each measuring over 50' and 12' wide as well as a paved driveway. I believe a person of excellence keeps things clean and tidy.
I thought that chicken wire could be used as rebar...or actual rebar. We aren't looking for shortcuts. (it's that excellence thing) I want the carpenter to know I honestly am interested in the process and want the best end result for our hard work.
I checked out this site:
http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/howmuch/calculator.htm
Evening Essie,
I don't know what the building code are where you live but here is a blurb from the building codes in Akron. They require a footing 36" deep for frost protection and 12" wide and 6" deep. I assume there would be a stem wall required to bring the foundation to the surface.
If you figure a footing 12" x 6" it would take abuabout 0.5' x 1' x 96' divided by 27 = 1.8 yards of concrete.
The stem wall would probably be 6" wide by 36" deep by 96' or 0.5' x 3' x 96' divided by 27 = 5.4 yards.
I live 90 miles south of Akron. Akron is charter, so it may be different here in my tiny hamlet. Thanks so much, Johne!!!XOXOXO
hummm, stem wall...gotta look that up. ;)
Essie You would probably use two 1/2" (#4) rebars in the footing for the entire perimeter. Since the stem wall will be backfilled, it may not need steel but will required anchor bolts.
The floor slab should be 6 inches thick. The sell wire mesh specifically for slabs. I would us a 6x6 (opening size) wire mesh. Chicken wire probably won't be allowed by code. They probably use it in minnesota though.
hahaha too much! I typed in bible verse of the day and got this...
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
— Proverbs 31:10
doesn't say anything about concrete!
time for beauty sleep. enjoy the evening, everyone.
The footing is placed at 36 inch depth then on top of it is formed the stem wall which brings the whole thing to the surface. It looks like an inverted T. Local codes may require a little steel in the stem wall. Local building departments of county building departments usually have helpful information on code and how to construct small structures.
That sounds like fun. It's always nice to work together on a project. You'll have to send a picture when it is done.
They probably use it in minnesota though.
86Johne on July 9, 2009 at 09:23 PM
I'm going to lay me down to sleep lmao! haha
have a great night.
The 36 inch depth may be required to prevent frost heave. Out of the frost areas it is usually only 18 inches deep. Again, check your local codes. It it only requires 18 inches then you only need an 18" stem wall putting the top of the stem wall six inches above grade.
Hi, Johne and Essie.
Senator John Ensign is like what 51-years-old and his parents are still bailing him out of trouble? Now that's leadership. Even 41 refused to get involved with 43's mishaps once he went to Washington.
So Ensign was rolling his parents at the old folks home, so he could cheat on his wife without her knowing it? That's love all around in that "family values" clan. lol.
That's almost as disgraceful as a Governor who quit her job because people expected her to spend her time doing Alaskan state business instead of acting as a Republican media icon. "They want ME to live in the Governor's Mansion in the state capitol, answer ethics charges about reimbursement for my family's personal travel, and propose solutions to the state's problems?"
Surely, they jest?
Any contractor you use will know that.
87Harpo_TheWatchman on July 9, 2009 at 09:26 PM
the carpenter is the contractor. I want to be in the know for when he returns. it might get me a brownie point or two...or something even nicer!
don't stay up and gripe all night. go snuggle up to your wife. our spirit life in the flesh is short, enjoy.
nighty nite.
Evening Sandy,
The republican circus just goes around and around doesn't it? Inquiring minds are finally catching on to their chicanery. I wonder if ensign's father was the owner of Circus Circus. ensign must be a family freak. Who ever heard of a religious person involved in the gambling business.
Johen,
I think Essie should get her advise from Wasilla. The House that Todd built only seems to have a few faint cracks along its foundation. They hardly show unless you look closely. Time will tell if the whole house doesn't cave in from the weight of so many absurdities.
Good night, all.
Morning Dems.......
Looks like we will have some sun today.
I am headed out, but will bbl....
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